Introduction

The LC Torana GTR XU-1 had set the scene for becoming a formidable foe to the legendary Falcon GTHO's that had dominated The Great Race, however they still had the wood on the little Torana upstart.

Don Holland managed a credible Class C victory in the 1970 Hardie-Ferodo, coming third outright. But during the 1971 event, and despite some tweaking performed by the "Silver Fox", it was the year of the GT Falcon. In fact, thirteen GTHO Phase 3’s
lined up for the 1971 Hardie-Ferodo, led by the
works' cars of Allan Moffat and John French.
Once again Moffat gained pole position, with
a best lap practice of 2:38.9, 10 seconds faster
than 1970, which did not encourage the Torana GTR XU-1
and Charger crews, who then had to hope on a
series of mechanical failures from the big Ford’s
to stand a chance.

Mechanical difficulty did beset the big Ford's, but only enough to strike a line through 5 of the original 13 starters. For the XU-1 it was a case of close...but no cigar. But 1971 was not such a bad year for fans of the General, given the release of the new LJ Torana. Taking the new 202 engine as fitted to the HQ Holden, Harry Firth's team then fitted triple 1.75 Strombergs (instead of the LC XU-1's Zeniths), and lifted the compression ratio 0.3 higher to 10.3:1.

Better still, the new donk was mated to GMH 's all new, all Aussie M-21 box, which had plenty of strength to handle the copius amounts of torque on offer. And because there was extra torque on tap, it permitted taller gearing for the indirect ratios. 1st gear was 2.54:1 and made 46 mph @ 6200 rpm, 2nd gear was 1.83:1 and made 67 mph, third was 1.25:1 and made 98 mph.

Harry Firth did spend time on the V8 Torana Project, code-named XU-1 V8, however the timing was wrong given the media scare campaign of 1972. In any case, the V8 Torana would have been an unlikely starter at the 1972 Bathurst event. Instead Firth further tweaked the already worked 202, in effect creating a special limited production version that used a wild HX Holden camshaft, a light flywheel, alloy wheels and revised suspension. When balanced and blueprinted, the engine was good for 212 bhp.

The scene was set for the fabulous 1972 Hardie-Ferodo 500, and Firth had another ace up his sleeve, an outstanding young driver that had shown plenty of form on previous outings, most notably a 3rd place in the 1969 Hardie-Ferodo when co-driving a Monaro GTS 350 with Des West.

The decision to stick with the race proven Hot Holden Six paid big dividends, with Peter Brock finishing the race a whopping 5 laps clear of his nearest competitor, John French's Falcon XY GTHO. In 1973GMH produced another 150 XU-1's, these being equipped with a revised cylinder head, larger valves, heavy duty axles and improved brakes. The scene was set for another Holden vs. Ford showdown at the Mount during the 1973 Hardie-Ferodo 1000, and everyone wondered if the XU-1, and Peter Brock, could retain the crown. Many felt the new race distance, extended to 1000 kilometres for the first time, would prove a bigger endurance test for the more tempremental GT's - no doubt many Torana fans hoped so.

Things were not so easy for the Torana GTR XU-1 privateers who were
using 3.08 to 1 final drives, which meant they
had to use a lot of revs to stay with the Dealer
Team cars which were using a taller 2.78 to 1
final drive. The Dealers Team Torana’s
were pulling 6500 rpm on Conrod Straight for
a top speed of 150 mph. To match this, the lower-geared
Torana’s would need to have revved to around
7000, a speed of revolution at which point things
start to break.

The GT Falcon's were still very menacing, however it looked for a time as though back-to-back victories for Brock, Firth and the Holden Dealer Team was on the cards. But racing is a funny game, and it was not to be. Brock's co-driver Doug Chivas, who had taken over from Brock, ran out of petrol and had to push
the car unaided up to the pits. Inevitably it cost the team the race, allowing Allan Moffat to take a comfortable lead in his XA GT Falcon. There was some conselation though, with the XU-1's filling the next 4 positions.

The morris marina 6cyl coupe is fu*king ugleeee you must be a Pom if you think that bit of sh*t looks any good at all, but you Poms have hardly ever had a decent car to buy in England so that’ probably why you have no taste at all in cars and when you think you do you must be tasting with your a*s holes.!!!!

nigel.C.

Posted Recently

The morris marina 6cyl coupe was way better, more style, more power! More collectable. Tom thumbs marina made brocks xu1 look GAY!

Sam

Posted Recently

"5 laps clear" in 1972? Are you looking at the same results that I am?

stefan

Posted Recently

my dad had one of the original lj gtr xu-1 toranas which was straight out of bathurst, that was until someone stole it, anyway im on my way to build another one great little cars

kris

Posted Recently

i saw the first car an lj gtr i fell in love with when i was 14 and said i would have one one day, it was my first car and i still have it 14 years later i just love the bogan aussie iconic car and boy do they still look great

andrew

Posted Recently

my dad owns a old gtr xu1 , one day he took me for a spin and it blew my mind !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ross Ninness

Posted Recently

THE XU-1 WAS CALLED THE GIANT KILLER, DUE TO THE FACT IT BEAT THE MIGHTY GTHO FALCON AT BATHURST. I ONCE OWNED 3 OF THEM AND WAS A MEMBER OF THE TORANA CLUB OF NSW. A MIGHTY LITTLE MUSCLE CAR!!!!!!!!!